|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
For more information on talks by Kenny Felder, contact...
Kavita Kapur
Public Relations Director, Self Knowledge Symposium
Kavita@SelfKnowledge.org
919/247-8188
www.SelfKnowledge.org
Raleigh native and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC) graduate Kenny Felder is something of an enigma. His piercing intellect and reasoning have served him well in science and business. In just three years he achieved every software start-up's dream: he sold his company, One Tree Software, to Microsoft for millions, after humble beginnings in his own living room. He became a Microsoft project manager for Visual SourceSafe, the programmer's tool he created at One Tree, and then moved to one of Microsoft's most innovative research groups—the Natural Language Programming Group. But Felder is also a lifetime spiritual seeker, and so must grapple with questions of meaning, of faith, of matters that can’t be neatly measured on a scale or plotted in a graph for a quarterly report.
In his witty, interactive lecture, Felder speaks candidly of the intersections of business and daily life with the spiritual. He addresses questions such as: What do you do with the nagging questions about God, or your life's purpose? How do you use logic, reason, and scientific principles in your spiritual life, while still believing in the value of faith? How can intellectual and philosophic discussion lead to real-life changes?
Are You a Robot?
Are You a Robot? is a debate. Felder challenges the audience to look deep inside themselves to find something they can do that a computer cannot. In rising to this challenge (which they always do), the audience finds themselves asking questions about thought, emotion, creativity, and will. With his vast experience with artificial intelligence machines and his razor-sharp intellect, Felder’s answer to the question points at a new approach to spirituality and ends with a surprise twist.
| 1988: |
Graduated with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in Physics and English.
Employed in Raleigh software company Da Vinci Systems—first as a technical writer, then as a programmer. |
| 1992: | Left Da Vinci with two partners to start One Tree Software in his dining room |
| 1994: |
Sold One Tree to Microsoft.
Moved to Redmond, Washington and worked as a Program Manager in the Microsoft Visual SourceSafe group. |
| 1996: | Managed a team within the Natural Language Programming group in Microsoft Research. The purpose of this team was to make computers understand the same languages that people use to communicate. |
| 1999: | Gave the commencement address at the UNC Physics department graduation. |
| 2000: | Taught a course entitled, "Computers and Society" at UNC |
| 2001: | Began doing NPR commentaries for local station WUNC |
| 1999- : | Teaches math and computer science at Raleigh Charter High School. |
Other Important Facts about Kenny
Kenny currently lives in Chapel Hill with his wife and four children. He is an avid Star Trek fan and a sometime chess, ping-pong, and racquetball player. He maintains a Web page of papers on math and Physics.
What Other People Have to Say about Kenny
"I thank you not only for the talk but also for the life of spiritual seeking you have started me and so many others on."
Chuck Eesley, Duke University '02"Simply put, Kenny Felder is a genius. He has the uncanny ability to logically connect seemingly unrelated ideas and make them comprehensible to anyone."
Jay Hall, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Mutek Solutions, Inc."Kenny's talk was really wonderful. He seemed to reach people by getting on their level…he was funny, kept our attention, but more than anything he articulated doubts and questions about God, reality, why try to answer spiritual questions? and shared his progress in the work. I left feeling like I had a place to start from, that I have some things to actually do."
Sean Ryan, North Carolina State University '01"After the talk I simply could not put my mind on the homework I had wanted to do. I just stayed up late, watched the stars, and tried desperately to process everything that the lecture stirred up in me. This was the kind of lecture I spent four years trying to find."
Mandy Schleifer, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill '99